Tag IPL-2011

The record of most consecutive loss in IPL belongs to Kolkata Knight Riders who lost 9 matches in a row in inagural 2008 edition and this year, Pune Warriors were fast closing in having lost 7 matches in a row but today, they finally found a win, beating Kings XI Punjab in their own backyard..

Electing to bat on a dry but greenish pitch that promised plenty of runs, home team collected some easy runs as Pune bowlers bowled some lose deliveries outside offstump to in-form Paul Valthaty but from other end, Indian bowler of the tournament so far = Rahul Sharma, claimed Adam Gilchrist to put break on the scoring. Shaun Marsh and Dinesh Karthik were left to do the rebuilding job and they succeeded to an extent putting on 30 run stand but soon, Warriors took control of the proceedings with Wayne Parnell and Mitchell Marsh sticking to their line and length. Punjab huffed and puffed to exactly a run a ball target.

Warriors began their chase on a positive note irrespective of Praveen Kumar bowling a maiden first up as Robin Uthappa took the center stage after Jesse Ryder's departure. With asking run rate below run a ball, it was just a matter of playing out the overs but captain Yuvraj Singh, playing at his home ground but for opposite team, decided to counter attack and took liking of Bhargav Bhatt. Yuvraj was out when just 4 runs were remaining for victory which Aussie pair of Callum Ferguson and Mitchell Marsh achieved after bit of trouble.

Rahul Sharma was named man of the match for his tight bowling. This was the second time in row that he was given the award. The leg spinner is certainly staking a claim for a spot in squad for upcoming India's tour of West Indies or later India's tour of England.

The scorecard :-

Kings XI Punjab innings (elected to bat)
Batsman		R	B	4s	6s
Adam Gilchrist	c Jhunjhunwala b Sharma	3	8	0	0
Paul Valthaty	c Kumar b Sharma	23	22	4	0
Shaun Marsh	b Kumar	32	28	3	1
Dinesh Karthik	c Jhunjhunwala b Marsh	30	27	3	0
David Hussey	c Uthappa b Kumar	4	5	0	0
Mandeep Singh	c Yuvraj b Parnell	6	11	0	0
D Chitnis	c Jhunjhunwala b Parnell	9	9	1	0
Ryan Harris	c Yuvraj b Marsh	4	4	1	0
Praveen Kumar	not out	3	5	0	0
Shalabh Srivastava	not out	1	1	0	0
Bhargav Bhatt
Extra :	4 (bye=1, lbye=3)
Total :	119 runs in 20 overs for 8 wickets

Bowler	Overs	Maiden	Runs	W	Extra
Bhuvneshwar Kumar	3	0	14	2
Srikanth Wagh	2	0	18	0
Wayne Parnell	4	0	12	2
Rahul Sharma	4	0	17	2
Yuvraj Singh	2	0	17	0
Mitchell Marsh	4	0	26	2
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala	1	0	11	0

Pune Warriors innings (target = 120 from 20 overs)
Batsman		R	B	4s	6s
Jesse Ryder	c Hussey b Bhatt	15	18	3	0
Manish Pandey	b Kumar	28	30	3	0
Robin Uthappa	c Srivastava b Harris	22	18	3	0
Yuvraj Singh	c & b Srivastava	35	15	5	2
Callum Ferguson	not out	6	14	0	0
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala	c Gilchrist b Srivastava	0	3	0	0
Mitchell Marsh	not out	2	6	0	0
Srikanth Wagh
Rahul Sharma
Wayne Parnell
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Extra :	12 (bye=4, lbye=1, wide=6, noball=1)
Total :	120 runs in 17.1 overs for 5 wickets

Bowler	Overs	Maiden	Runs	W	Extra
Praveen Kumar	4	1	17	1
Ryan Harris	4	0	26	1	3 wides
Shalabh Srivastava	3	0	20	2	1nb, 1wd
Bhargav Bhatt	4	0	35	1	1 wide
Paul Valthaty	2.1	0	17	0